


Life Goes On

by merulanoir



Series: They Are Singing The Old Songs [1]
Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ficlet, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22372654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merulanoir/pseuds/merulanoir
Summary: You don’t have to fully forgive someone to understand they might deserve a second chance.
Relationships: Corvo Attano/Daud
Series: They Are Singing The Old Songs [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610503
Comments: 7
Kudos: 52





	Life Goes On

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Жизнь продолжается](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25360546) by [Greenmusik](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greenmusik/pseuds/Greenmusik)



> Cross-posting my tumblr drabbles and ficlets on AO3 to keep them safe. :)

Daud becomes the Royal Spymaster. Corvo sees the ways he could prove useful, and because Emily is a child she will believe her father. Even though it hurts to see the man who killed her mother, she braces herself and endures.

And maybe Corvo is not so void-bent on handling things alone. Maybe he finds someone to help both him and Emily with their trauma; someone to talk them through the interregnum events, help when insomnia or anxiety get very bad. Maybe both of them gradually heal.

And as a year and then three roll by, Corvo starts to truly see that Daud is sorry. The Knife never says it, actually, but he doesn’t have to; it is there in the way he always announces himself when he enters a room, how he never, ever sneaks up on either of them; it plain to see Daud regrets, because he works himself to the bone, shows his work as the Spymaster every bit the same focus as he did to his work as an assassin.

And Corvo and Emily heal, and they begin to see that even though what Daud did was awful, he has been making amends. He never behaves like he expects to be forgiven, and Emily tells Corvo she’s not sure she will ever be able to do that. Corvo agrees, but when he goes quiet Emily asks what he is thinking.

“I just don’t know if I want him to live out his days thinking the only thing that defines him is his crime. It will always be there, yes, but there’s so much more to him than I thought.”

Emily doesn’t want to acknowledge that, but she is sixteen; she’s grown up from the terrified child, and she’s seen Daud every day during those six years. At first it was horrible, but little by little, day by day, her fear eroded, until it crumbled away. She no longer fears Daud, and after that conversation she starts to look at him more closely.

And what she sees makes her sad.

It’s so evident Daud is crushingly lonely in the Tower. He lives alone, and Emily knows he must miss the Whalers. She knows the arcane bond is no more, but she can’t help wondering what happened to the men and women with whom Daud shared his space and powers for so many years. Some careful snooping reveals correspondence, people with names and lives.

There’s someone called Thomas. He became a smuggler, it seems. He often mentions someone named Billie in his letters. _No word of Billie._

A man called Rulfio calls Daud an idiot quite often. He keeps inquiring after Daud’s personal life. Those letters are usually crumpled, like someone has been angry while reading them.

Then there’s a book about the harbors all around the Isles. Emily finds it tucked away behind a false panel. There’s a note slipped between the pages. Some of the words are smudged, like water fell on them years and years ago. _You’ve got some kind of plan, some hope for a new life._

It takes some convincing, but Corvo takes up sparring with Daud. The first time is stiff, both of them skirting around the yard and each other like waiting for something to explode. Emily makes Corvo promise to keep doing it, and in a few weeks the worst of the anxiety slips away. After two months, the spars are a regular thing in their life, and Emily sees Daud smile for the first time.

She begins to seek Daud out to talk about espionage and the work his spies do for her. She knows Corvo will never stop hovering, but she is getting old enough to have secrets of her own. Again, it takes a long while for Daud to stop walking on eggshells around her, but one day he looks around himself like he just then realized he is having coffee with the empress, and that the empress is rolling her eyes at him while stifling a laugh.

Corvo sees Daud thaw. It’s slow, and sometimes the former assassin catches himself and closes off, but gradually they reach a place of understanding. Daud sees Corvo no longer thinks he can go sour at any given moment. Corvo lets himself enjoy Daud’s company, and furthermore lets himself show it; sometimes they escape the Tower and spar with their powers, and it is like a breath of fresh air.

Daud teaches him more about the runes and bonecharms. Every now and then he forgets himself, and then Corvo can see how much Daud enjoys being able to share his skills. They go looking for shrines, and sometimes those turn into jaunts across Dunwall. Corvo begins to look forward to their night patrols, because Daud understands how the Mark feels; Daud understands the stress of hiding it, and how the Void sometimes whispers so loudly it’s hard to focus on anything else.

And slowly, oh so slowly, other people start to treat Daud more like a human and less like a caged beast. The staff and the guards notice how much more at ease the empress is with the former Knife of Dunwall. They see Lord Corvo spar with Daud, only to laugh at something he said. And gradually they conclude that maybe, just maybe, people can change.

It could go on like this indefinitely. Corvo almost hopes it would, because he is growing to appreciate Daud’s dry wit and sharp sense of humor; entertaining the nebulous thoughts that sometimes crop up doesn’t seem wise. He could be happy with the way life is, simultaneously hectic and monotonous, because both he and Emily are doing much better, and somehow his daughter was wise enough to see that you don’t have to fully forgive someone to understand they might deserve a second chance; that sometimes your own healing will lurch onwards when you acknowledge that making amends doesn’t have to mutually painful.

But Daud will not let it be. Corvo has gotten to know him so well, and he sees the Knife is struggling to allow himself to enjoy anything. And Corvo aches when he sees Daud force himself not to laugh, to excuse himself from the informal dinners the three of them sometimes have, and fight to keep his walls up. Corvo wants to tell Daud that…what?

Corvo knows he can’t fully forgive. But he has moved on, as has Emily, and it just seems so unfair for Daud to keep suffering year after year when nowadays most weeks go by without Corvo even thinking about how they first met each other. Corvo never expected it to happen, but he can’t say he is sorry.

So when Daud’s patience finally snaps (two weeks after the anniversary of Jessamine’s death; Daud was conspicuously absent that day) he corners Corvo at the end of their patrol. His voice breaks a little as he tries to find words for what sounds like half an apology and half an accusation, and Corvo just stands, rooted to the spot, because he knows there will always be this shadow between them, but now he knows Daud; Corvo knows his regret is genuine and so all-encompassing is keeps hurting him to this day; he also knows Daud takes his coffee black, that he dislikes sleeping in, that his favorite knife was gifted to him by Thomas, and that every time Daud thinks Corvo doesn’t notice his eyes grow soft and longing.

So Corvo steps closer, crowds Daud against the Tower banister, and kisses him. He has been fighting the urge for months, but in that moment he just can’t hold out anymore. He wants Daud to see that his presence, though initially unexpected, is now wanted and welcome. 

It takes a long while, but finally Daud kisses him back. He does it carefully and his hands shake when they bury into Corvo’s hair, but he doesn’t run away, and Corvo smiles into the kiss. It’s over too soon, and when they part Daud looks like someone stole all his well-trained words. Corvo doesn’t remember which of them leans back in.

It starts to become easier after that. Daud is still cautious and gruff, but sometimes he laughs, and Emily manages to fish out stories about the old days; they both learn who the people behind the industrial masks were. Who they are, when Corvo finally convinces Daud to invite the few trusted ones to the Tower. Three of them come, and hearing the apology shouldn’t do much, but Corvo sees Emily’s smile wobble. Rinaldo and Rulfio leave soon afterwards, but Thomas stays late. Daud’s shoulders are looser the following morning.

And life goes on. The past never goes away, but each of them makes peace with it, in their unique ways. Corvo begins to wake up to slow and steady breathing against his back, and no matter how early he wakes up, Daud is always awake when he rolls over. His sleepy smiles have long since lost the nervous edge.

Emily learns swordfighting and learns to shoot; Corvo isn’t exactly happy to learn Daud took her to the black market for her eighteenth birthday, but her joy as she shoots her very own crossbow is contagious. Corvo and Daud watch her take aim with her head cocked thoughtfully and hair escaping the updo. Corvo knows he is smiling, and when Daud glances at him his stomach lurches. Happiness is fleeting, but he knows where to find it, and how to hold on to it.

Life goes on.


End file.
